Parasit – Samhällets Paria

Formed in 2011 and based in the Swedish town of Avesta, Parasit originally brought out their third full-length Samhällets Paria (Society’s Pariah) in 2020 via Phobia Records. Featuring members of legendary bands like Uncurbed, Asocial, Diskonto, and Retaliation among tons of others, this “all-star” outfit should be familiar to fans of raging crust and d-beat around the world. If you like fierce Scandi crust but you’re not a fan of Parasit already, Samhällets Paria will make you one in seconds. 

Samhällets Paria is packed to the rafters with sixteen crustcore rippers, all of which radiate brain-frying intensity. Every concussive song on the album is assembled with a galore of distorted basslines, buzzling guitar riffs and powerful yet fairly predictable solos in the recognizable old school tradition. What makes this band stand out from the rest of the crowd, however, is the exceptional drumming that keeps the uncompromising d-beats intact with just the right combination of brutality and flair. The gravel-gargling, blackened vocals of singer Henke are also as brutal as ever, providing an additional level of ferocity and aggression to their furious sound. If you like bands like Victims, Skitsystem, and Bombstrike, then you need to check this out.

After initially being sold out, Samhällets Paria was repressed on vinyl in 300 more copies in 2022. The cover of the new run is slightly different in the sense that the name of the band comes in red letters instead of the gray scale artwork of the original 2020 record. This artwork, however, is probably the only thing I dislike about the album as the image of the five troublemakers on the cover conjures associations with a cheap quality “Clockwork Orange”-influenced Oi! band instead of a top-tier, all-guns-blazing crust crammed with thundering d-beats and metal influences that it actually is.

P.S. Parasit’s new LP En Falsk Utopi (A False Utopia) is planned to release at the end of the year or early 2023, and its first single “Livets Slut” is already available to stream at Phobia Records.